Of Needles and Bugs, or Shilo's Secret Garden
by Don'tWorryBeHyper
Summary: Two years after the Opera, Shilo's life has settled down. But when an all-too-familiar Graverobber comes crashing  literally  into her life, she must choose between living contentedly or fighting for true happiness. GriLo rated M for violence and sexehs.
1. Let the Good Men Burn

Of Needles and Bugs

Chapter One: Let the Good Men Burn

_If the world were made of flesh, the scar that Rotti Largo's death had left healed very quickly._

_The founder of GeneCo did not mar the skin of the island with his demise. Even in dying, he wanted everyone to have anatomic excellence._

_So he went quietly, mute and fading out on the floor of the Opera house._

_Did we miss him?_

_Of course. But we miss our old eyes. Our old kidneys. Our old hearts._

_We miss them, but we know they are faulty, and they must be replaced._

_And so Rotti Largo was replaced._

_Amber Sweet. Carmela Largo. Call her what you like. I certainly called her a lot of things, back when we had our thing._

_That girl's dumb as a rock, though. Sorry to say it like that. But she is. Simple as that. Too many surgeries. Too much street Z. _

_So with a blow-up doll running our plastic and silicone world, we resumed things like normal._

_Amber didn't change much. Repo Men still made sure the streets ran with blood. We still got sliced and stitched. Pavi and Luigi had plenty of meatheads running around doing the Largo's dirty work._

_Surgery was stylish. Scalpels were sexy. Imperfection was unacceptable._

_Rotti was not a scar. He was something much less important. A freckle. A sunspot._

_Something that would gently irritate us and then vanish with a sigh._

**…**

The carpets were frayed and stained, the furniture threadbare. Paintings hung crookedly on walls, curtains fell from their hooks.

The entropy was refreshing.

"Shilo! Shilo!" A young girl's voice brought Shilo out of her assessment of the old Wallace house.

She looked up. Lilly and Oliver both ran towards her. Lilly clutched something small and white.

"What's the matter?"

"We found this outside." Lilly handed her the little furry thing and stepped back, watching for Shilo's reaction. Shilo held the newborn kitten in her arms. It was a precious, fragile thing. So young its eyes hadn't opened yet.

"Where's the mother?" she asked, gently stroking the top of its head.

"We couldn't find the mama." There was a mournful tinge to Lilly's youthful voice. Oliver toed the carpet sadly. He had been born without functioning vocal chords, and his parents had not wanted to risk a GeneCo replacement, for fear of the Repo Men coming for him. Lilly, his twin sister, acted as the voice of the two.

"Can we keep it, Shi?"

Shilo's eyes roamed over the foyer, at the half-empty bowls of cat and dog and rabbit food already littering the ground, the claw marks on the chairs, and the dozens of fluffballs scattered about. She sighed. "Yes. Yes, we can."

The kids' smiles erased any worries she might have had about the further cost of cat food, or having to clean up another litter box.

**…**

**_Smack it._**

Graverobber's needle sank into the corpse's skull.

**_Just gotta smack it_.**

There was that always-satisfying sucking noise, and the pleasing blue of Zydrate filling the vial.

He grinned and pocketed the glass tube, tucking the needle gun into his coat. Stepping gingerly over the corpse, he sank to the ground, propping his back up against a gravestone.

**_This place brings back memories. Used to be my biggest Z pipeline. All those fuckin' corpses piling in all the time. I missed it._**

It had been two years. Two years of ducking through holes and squeezing into cracks and hiding beneath piles of ghastly-smelling corpses.

Two years since Rotti Largo had croaked.

Graverobber sighed and smiled lazily, like a cat in a sunny spot. Even sitting in the middle of a graveyard, hungry, tired and freezing his ass off was better than the alternative; namely, running from Amber and her goons.

The infamous Largo princess had gotten it into her head that she could make him into some sort of pet–something to keep around and play with when it suited her.

And, naturally, he would be a free, discreet way to get her Zydrate.

When he had refused (by way of stabbing one of her guards in the jugular with his needle gun and running like a girl out of Rotti's old office, call it what you will), Amber had not taken the rejection well.

What Amber wanted, Amber got.

**_Well, sorry to disappoint you, princess_.**

He stretched, feeling his body unfurl and relax. His bones made audible cracking sounds.

Crack. Crack. Click.

Graverobber froze. The _click _came from somewhere behind him. He turned in time to see a GeneCop rise from behind the headstone he had been relaxing against.

**_Shit._**

He launched himself to his feet and began running, vaulting over gravestones like he had always done. The sound of footfalls behind him alerted him to the GeneCop's pursuit. It sounded like there was only one, which was good.

The clicking sound filled his ears again, and Graverobber dove behind a headstone just as a gunshot rang out.

A moment later, the pain hit him. He sank his teeth into his bottom lip to avoid moaning aloud and clamped a hand on his shoulder, where blood had already begun soaking into his shirt. All the while, he listened for footsteps.

They were coming closer, getting louder by the moment. Graverobber's other hand went into his coat.

The GeneCop rounded the corner, and he threw himself forward, yanking the needle gun out of his jacket. The cop fell to the ground and Graverobber sank the needle into his neck.

Gasping, the GeneCop clawed at his throat, blood bubbling up and out of his mouth. Graverobber grabbed the cop's gun and pressed it against his temple. With the bullet in his shoulder, it took him a couple of tries to pull the trigger, but he managed it, quickly putting an end to the GeneCop's suffering.

When the cop had stopped twitching, Graverobber stood up, one hand still clutching his throbbing shoulder. He could feel his fingers going numb as he staggered to the edge of the graveyard, to where the larger family tombs lay.

**_Please, _please _still be here…_**

**_…_**

"And then what happened?"

Shilo laughed as she closed the book. "What do you _think _happened, silly?" With one finger, she tapped the bridge of Hannah's freckly nose. "They lived happily after."

"Oh." Hannah's large eyes were nearly crossed with the effort of making sense of the story. Shilo kissed her on the forehead.

"Good night."

"G'night, Shilo."

"Good night," she said to Damian, Molly, Azura, Theo, Oliver and Lilly, kissing each of them on their brows.

For Mr. Fluff, Pumpkin, Ginger, Peaches, Fattycakes and the rest of the animals, she stroked behind ears and smoothed her hand over furry backs.

Satisfied that everyone had been bade a goodnight, she stood in the doorway of what had once been her bedroom and watched the children fondly.

Gone were the plastic sheets that surrounded her bed. The medical equipment had been cleared out, as had the rather sinister-looking skeleton model. Shilo's bug collection had been thrown out, because she tired of trapped specimens and collections.

Instead, little children lay asleep on the four-poster, and on mattresses on the floor. Cats and dogs and mice dozed contentedly in their owners' arms.

It was far from the austere, sterile house she had grown up in, with only her fathers' love and the fake fireplace warming the rooms.

Shilo shut the door to the bedroom, making her way downstairs to curl up in front of the fireplace. The newborn kitten dozed on the floor by the hearth, small, sleepy breaths making Shilo grin. She watched it for awhile, marveling in the simple happiness a newborn kitten brought into the world.

And then she heard a sinister-sounding _clunk_, coming from the door by the staircase.

The door that led out to her mother's tomb.

Shilo held her breath and picked up the kitten, holding it protectively to her chest. With her other hand, she grabbed the antique rifle she always left leaning against the fireplace in case of break-ins (and there were plenty of those).

The door rattled on its hinges. Shilo's heart hammered in her chest. Who could it be? One of the Largos? GeneCops? A Repo Man?

After a few more moments of struggle, the door swung open to reveal a tall, long-haired man in a bloody coat. His eyes–wide and bluish-green–fell upon her and his black lips opened.

"Ki–Kid?"

Shilo almost dropped the kitten. "Graverobber?" she said, her voice rising an octave from the shock.

He nodded weakly, took a step forward, and fell to the ground.

**A/N: So, whaddya thank? My first Repo! fanfic. God I love this movie. And I would have many kinds of sex with the Graverobber.**

**So please read and review! For every review, Graverobber will take off his shirt and Pavi and Luigi will interpretive dance!**


	2. Nothing but Ashes, Nothing but Dust

Chapter Two: Nothing but Ashes, Nothing but Dust

Graverobber's eyes opened slowly. The light was sharp as needles.

**_Holy fuck, that's bright–_**

As everything came into focus, he realized that a ring of people stood around him. They were either midgets or small children.

**_What the hell is this, Snow White?_**

"Alright, everyone, make a path," a decidedly feminine voice ordered. The wave of children/midgets parted, and Shilo came into his vision, kneeling beside the bed.

A bed. That's what he was lying on.

"Kid–"

"Sssh," she soothed. She was holding a damp washcloth in her hands, and she pressed it against his forehead. "You're really hot."

He laughed. "You too."

She rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant."

"I know," he wheezed. He twisted his head to try and get a view of his shoulder, and spikes of pain shot through him. "Augh!"

"Don't try to move." Shilo gestured a metal dish, the kind doctors used. At the bottom lay a bloody metal slug. "I managed to get the bullet out and stitch you up, but you could open the wound up if you move."

"Shi," one of the kids broke in, a freckly girl with curly brown hair. "Isn't he a graverobber?"

Shilo sighed. "He's a good man, Hannah."

"But we're not supposed to help graverobbers–" another, blond girl cut in.

"Lilly…" Shilo knelt at eye level with the blond girl and put her hands on her shoulders. "I know the law says that we aren't supposed to help them, but the law isn't always right. _I_ know that this man is my friend, and _I_ know that _he _has helped me before. So I'm going to return the favor."

**_Friend? Since when have I been her friend? All I've done is get her into trouble…_**

"Hannah and Azura, check the soup. It should be done. Lilly, Oliver, Damian–clear out. I'm gonna need to talk to my friend a minute."

The children swept out of the room rapidly. Shilo set about to propping Graverobber up with pillows.

"Why…are you helping me?" he rasped, wincing. His throat felt dry as concrete.

Shilo lifted a mug to his lips. "Drink," she ordered. "It's oolong tea. It's good for you."

He choked back a couple sips of the bitter, dark liquid as Shilo watched carefully. When he was done, she stood up with the mug and went to place it on the dresser. As she turned away, he managed to get in a good look at her.

Without her father's poison in her veins, her hair had grown down past her shoulders, thicker and wavier than the wig. She was a little taller and much more filled out, breasts pushing against her blouse and hips sloping gently under her skirt. Her face had lost its round youthfulness. Her cheekbones and chin were more defined, her eyes no longer cartoonishly large against the rest of her face. He noticed, as well, the faint blush coloring her cheeks.

She seemed much healthier and happier than two years. Which was understandable, considering all she'd been going through the last time he'd seen her.

"Where've you been?" she asked, returning from her trip to the dresser. She sat at the edge of the bed.

"I don't know. Places. Answer my question first."

"Honestly? I missed you."

**_She missed me? Why–_**

"I've seen the posters. Wanted–Graverobber. Dead or alive," she recited, interrupting his train of thought.

"Yep, that's me," he replied smugly. "I didn't know that bitch Amber thought I deserved my own posters."

"How can you joke about this? The whole island's after you!"

Graverobber let out a slow breath and tried to crack his neck. The pain jabbed at him again, and he stopped. "I've been through a lot, Kid. This is nothing."

Shilo eyed him dubiously. "Have you really been on the run for two years?"

"Just about."

"I was worried about you," she confessed. "I looked for you for awhile. After some time I gave up. I convinced myself you weren't coming back."

"Why'd you look for me?" he asked. "You barely knew me."

"You were the first person I'd ever seen besides my dad–in real life, I mean. Not on TV. You represented everything I'd never been allowed to experience," she replied.

Graverobber didn't know how to respond. He watched her fidget with her hands for a moment, obviously embarrassed she'd shared that with him. After a moment, the door opened, and the girls she had called Hannah and Azura came in with a bowl of soup.

"Thank you," she said to them, taking it from Hannah's hands.

Azura, a brunette of eleven or twelve, peered at the man on Shilo's old bed. "Is he gonna sleep there?"

"I'm afraid he's going to have to until he heals."

"Then where are _we _going to sleep?"

"How about this," Shilo said. "You can move the mattresses downstairs into the foyer. That way you can be near the fireplace."

**…**

Later that night, Shilo stepped out of the shower and pulled her white nightgown over her head. In the bedroom, Graverobber lay asleep, or close enough. She had helped him spoon the soup into his mouth and arranged the pillows so that he could rest, but she didn't know what else she could do except for let him be and hope the bullet wound healed quickly.

Shilo picked up her hairbrush and pulled it through her hair, carefully combing out any snarls. At first, it had been strange having hair actually connected to her head–hair that hurt when tugged.

There was a laundry list of things that took getting used to, though–like the weight and tenderness of larger breasts and the growing pains of lengthening bones. Her body seemed to be making up for whatever her father had put a stop to–and that meant flying through growth spurts at an agonizing rate. Shilo had begun to menstruate a week after she stopped taking the so-called medicine, and a week after that she had gone from being bald to having an inch of downy hair on her head.

Not that she minded. She didn't look fragile anymore. She looked more solid, stronger–like her mother.

She had been careful to keep her mother's portraits up on the walls, even as they became cluttered with children's watercolors and photos of birthdays and Christmasses. It was a hard thing, having to balance out her old life and her new one.

With a contented sigh, she made sure her hair was sufficiently tangle-free before leaving the bathroom and entering the bedroom. Graverobber's eyes were closed, eyelids twitching as his eyes moved beneath them. Shilo watched him for a moment, wondering what he dreamed about. She had never seen him this relaxed, this _vulnerable_. Without the confident grin and the lecherous, twinkling eyes, he looked like some sort of fairytale prince, with his hair streaming around him in a multicolored halo and his skin white and smooth as ivory.

Wrapping her arms around one of the bedposts, Shilo leaned against it and watched him. There was something so magnetically enticing about him.

Shilo could feel the heat at the bottom of her abdomen, and she chastised herself silently.

**_You're acting like a lovestruck moron, Shi. You aren't attracted to the _Graverobber_–you barely even know him._**

Still, she could remember the night she had collapsed in the cemetery, the night she'd first met him. The deep rumble of his voice, his dark eyes, the smile that curled his painted lips had made her feel things he never knew she could feel before. Many a night she had dreamed of those large, rough hands roaming over her skin, those grinning lips on her throat...

He had been her awakening into desire.

**_Desire…maybe one of the first _good _feelings I'd ever had in my life._**

She laughed softly, and then checked herself to make sure she didn't rouse him.

**A/N: Okay, couldn't think of a good cutting-off place for this chapter. Hope that was okay. Read and review, plehz! Nathan promises he'll do a silly dance for every review I get!**


	3. A Rather Marrow Escape

Chapter Three: A Rather Marrow Escape

Cold, gray morning light streamed in through Shilo's bedroom window. To a normal person, the light would have been welcoming, considering how smoggy the sky usually was. To Graverobber, the light was like a slap in the face. He was a creature of darkness.

Blinking slowly, he ignored the throbbing ache in his shoulder and slowly sat up.

**_God damn, I really need to take a piss._**

Out of the corner of his eye, he spied movement. He turned.

The Kid–well, he couldn't _really _call her that now–lay on the other side of the bed. She was facing away from him, but he knew she was asleep by her slow, even breaths.

As quietly as possible, Graverobber stood up and made his way to the bathroom.

**…**

Shilo awoke to the sound of hot water running. She propped herself up on her elbows and turned to make sure Graverobber hadn't been woken up.

He wasn't in bed.

**_Graverobbers take showers?_**

Moments later, the door opened, and Graverobber stepped out of clouds of billowing steam. A white towel encircled his waist, but aside from that, he was naked. A raw, pink wound marred his shoulder.

**_Oh my God, he's in the buff. I've never seen a guy like that…not even Dad…_**

Shilo opened her mouth to say something, anything. She felt as though she couldn't have him standing there practically nude and _not _say something. "Y-you're…uh…"

"I'm what? Awake? Damp? Cold as fuck? Yes, yes and yes." He ran a hand through his hair, a wet, dark mess that looked oddly sexy hanging down in wet ringlets.

"You need clothes," she blurted out, glad she had found something logical to say.

"Do you have any? Because I don't mind walking around in the buff if you don't." He grinned lazily at her, and she wasn't sure if he was serious or not.

"I'm sure I'll find some," she replied hastily.

**…**

Graverobber watched as Shilo hurried out of the room. He chuckled to himself.

**_She's cute when you catch her off-guard. I should do it more often._**

As his surroundings became more apparent, he found the laugh dying in his throat. Sure he was clean and rested, but nothing changed the fact that he was still on the run from that bitch Amber and her GeneCop minions. Or the fact that he had possibly dragged a blameless woman and a household of innocent children into the equation.

**…**

Shilo came back a few minutes later with a pair of jeans and a black shirt that had belonged to her father. Nathan had been a tad bit shorter and a little paunchier than Graverobber, but she was sure the clothes would fit him fine.

Timidly, she rapped her knuckles against the door. "Um, Graverobber? I've got you some clothes."

"Come on in," came the reply.

Shilo opened the door. Graverobber stood in front of her bedroom's one window, a palm pressed against the chilly glass.

"Are you alright?" she asked, laying the folded clothes down on the bed.

He turned his head to the side, enough for her to see his profile but still not making eye contact.. He looked serious, an expression she wasn't accustomed to seeing him with.

"Yeah," he murmured. "I'm…fine. Thanks for the clothes."

"Sure." She turned to leave.

"Wait," he called out.

Shilo turned back to him. He was facing her now.

"I need to talk to you," he explained.

"Can it wait till after you're dressed?" Shilo asked, a small smile forming on her lips despite her best efforts to keep her face straight.

**_Not that I mind, or anything. I don't think I've ever seen a better set of abs._**

He ignored the quip, instead taking a step towards her. "If you've been outside at all, you'd know I'm being chased by a shitload of powerful people."

"I know."

"Well, then, you should also know that I appreciate all you've done for me, but I need to go."

Shilo's eyes widened. They stared at him with a mixture of surprise and hurt.

"Why?" she breathed.

"Why do you think, Kid? I made a mistake showing up at your door. I don't want to get you and your midgets in the middle of this…_thing _between me and Amber."

Shilo gnawed on her lip for a moment. When she spoke, it was not to him. Her eyes were over his shoulder, on the vista her window offered.

"Don't think I didn't realize the risk I was taking when you showed up at my door. I know what's going on, and I know the kind of person Amber can be. But I want you to stay. You've helped me more than I've probably deserved in the past, and I want to repay the favor. Not out of any sort of guilt or anything," she added, almost to herself. "Just because I want to. And if trouble comes knocking on my door because of this, I'll deal with it."

The calm, straightforward way she spoke really proved to him how much she'd changed. It was more than the hair or the (perky) tits. She had matured an impossible amount without her father's loving, controlling presence. No longer a slave to her genetics, she was an independent woman.

"Now," she said. "I'll let you get changed."

…

Fifteen minutes later, Graverobber came down the stairs, walking carefully because of his injury. Shilo and a handful of midgets crowded around the dining room table.

"You're up." she sounded surprised.

"Sticks and stones will break my bones…but bullets just tend to piss me off," he concluded, leaning in the doorway.

One of the girls turned to look at him. She was all of three or four, with an insane amount of freckles. "Why's your hair so long?" she asked.

**_These things _talk?**

He turned to look at Shilo. Shilo couldn't help but giggle at the confusion in his eyes.

"It looks like a girl's," a boy added.

"Theo!" Shilo reprimanded.

"What's your name?" the girl Shilo called Lily asked.

"Graverobber," he replied.

This sent the children into uproar.

"_Graverobber_?"

"That's not a name!"

"That's a nickname!"

"That's a superhero name!"

"Maybe I _am _a supehero," was his first answer.

Theo looked him up and down slowly. "You could be," he concluded.

Murmurs of approval went around the midgets' table.

Shilo snorted as she brought forth a pot of oatmeal and a ladle. "Don't be silly. He's…" she trailed off.

"Yes?" Graverobber prompted.

Shilo blushed. "He's a friend. Let's leave it at that." And with that, she began dishing out the oatmeal.

**…**

Shilo left the house later that day, the need to go to the market apparent. She asked Graverobber to keep an eye on the kids.

"Kid, I don't know a thing about keeping midgets calm," he said gruffly.

"It's the least you could do," came her practical answer, as she scooped up the kitten and handed it to Lily to look after.

Graverobber grinned and stretched, sprawling out on the armchair he sat in. "I suppose I could always Z them senseless…" he began.

"You wouldn't dare."

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Try me."

"Ha-ha. Very funny." Even with her back turned to him, he could tell she was smiling.

**…**

Shilo lifted a can of preserved peaches off the supermarket shelf. Her mouth watered.

**_I've got everything else…they're not that expensive…_**

The label gleamed at her, the rosy peaches taunting her.

"Excuse me, ma'am," someone said from behind her. Tucking the can into her shopping basket, she turned around.

"Ye–"

Her response died in her throat. Two GeneCops stood there, glaring at her from behind mirrored shades.

"We have reason to believe you are acquainted with a man known only as the Graverobber?" one of them asked.

"I…why?" she stammered, heart hammering in her chest.

**_Shit. Shit. Shit._**

"This man is currently on the run from GeneCo officials. A GeneCop's body was found the night before in front of your family tomb, along with a set of prints leading to the door."

"Well…I don't know what to say," she told them, struggling to look the GeneCop in the eye. She'd always been a terrible liar. "He's certainly not with me."

The other GeneCop, the much bigger one, took a menacing step towards her. She turned, eyes sweeping the store for help. All the other customers had hurried out, leaving only her and the man at the cashier, who looked at her helplessly.

"Now, little lady, I think you need to think long and hard about wether or not you're telling the truth. Because you'll be in _big _trouble if it turns out you're lying."

"Then be glad I'm telling the truth," she replied, more firmly than she would have thought herself capable of.

The GeneCop glared at her for a long moment, nostrils flaring, and then stepped back. "Well then. Thanks for your cooperation."

"Have a nice day," she said with a mock annoyance to mask the trembling in her voice.

Shilo paid and left the store, her heart in her mouth.

**A/N: So…you likey? Sorry it took so long to update. I've been really busy (hell, I still am) but I hope this was good! R&R, please! I won't keep going without reviews!**


	4. Children Should Not Play in Graveyards

**Chapter Four: Children Should Not Play in Graveyards**

Lily watched the long-haired man lounge in the armchair as she played with her new kitty. The cat purred and flopped about playfully in her arms.

"How do you know Shilo?" she asked.

His head didn't move, but his eyes roamed ever-so-slowly to fix on her. "Sorry?"

"How did you meet?"

His painted lips twisted into a grim smile. "We met in the cemetery. She was chasing bugs and I was…working."

"Robbing graves, you mean."

He bowed his head debonairly, unashamed. "It's my job–to steal and rob."

"What did you think of her?" Lily pressed. "Did you think she was pretty?"

"Why?"

"Because you look at her like you think she is."

Before he could respond, an enormous German Shepherd, one of the dogs he'd seen around the house, came bounding down the stairs and flew into his lap. He cursed as the dog began happily licking at his face.

Lily giggled. "Down, Ginger!" she commanded.

Ginger ignored her mistress and continued slobbering all over the new guest.

"How do I get this thing off me, kid?" Graverobber yelped.

"Just pet her. She'll calm down."

Almost cautiously, Graverobber reached out and began stroking the dog behind her ears. Ginger panted ecstatically, leaning her head into the touch.

"She likes it when you do that," Lily explained.

The moment Graverobber stopped, Ginger began whining pitifully.

"How do I get her to stop?" he moaned.

"Keep petting."

**…**

The walk home from the store had been uneventful for Shilo, but she continued to glance over her shoulder until she was through the front door, her pulse still racing.

The sight that met her eyes when she entered the house was so strange she wondered if her eyes were playing tricks on her.

Graverobber sat in her father's armchair, Ginger's enormous, furry body sprawled over his lap. Lily, clutching her new cat, sat with Ollie and Hannah beside his feet, while Pumpkin and Peaches, the two beagles, hopped about his boots excitedly.

"I wouldn't have pegged you for an animal lover," she said, the hilarity of the sight erasing any nervousness she walked in with.

Graverobber leered up at her. "I'm a man of mysteries," he replied.

"Where are the rest of the kids?" Shilo asked Hannah.

"They're upstairs. They were playing hide-and-seek or something," Hannah answered.

Shilo set the grocery bags down and hurried upstairs to make sure the children, left to their own devices, had not managed to break anything or kill one another.

In the bedroom area, Molly and Damian jumped up and down on the four-poster, squealing hysterically, while Azura lay on one of the mattresses with one of Nathan's old medical books, occasionally looking up to shush them. Theo, absolutely tired out, lay on his back beside Azura, with Fattycakes, the obese Abyssinian, resting on his chest.

Shilo sighed in relief. The kids were safe, the animals were okay, Graverobber hadn't gotten tired of them and drugged them unconscious.

Oh, and that bitch Amber hadn't ordered a massive attack on the house. That was good too.

**…**

That night, Shilo tucked the kids into bed and found, to her surprise, that they were too tired to require a bedtime story. She bid them all a loving goodnight and went to her own room.

Graverobber lay on his side of the bed, wearing the black pajama pants Shilo had supplied him with. His face was hidden behind a copy of _The Evening Slice_.

Shilo glanced at the cover, and her eyes froze there. Beneath Amber's pouting face (not surprising, considering she was the face behind surgery now), printed in thick red block letters, were words that made Shilo's blood run cold.

**_Manhunt: Amber Sweet searches for the most famous graverobber on the island, as well as whomever he may be involved with._**

Shilo didn't know what scared her more–the mention of a 'manhunt', or the 'whomever he may be involved with'.

_She _was whomever he may be involved with. And Amber surely knew that.

With a shaking hand, she reached for the magazine lying open across her new guest's face. The moment her fingertips made contact with the glossy cover, Graverobber awoke, his hands clamping around her wrists. He pinned her onto her back so fast she couldn't track his movement. The magazine bounced off the bed and slid quietly across the floor.

"I…"

"Ssh," he murmured throatily. His head ducked down, his movements much slower now, and he pressed his face to her throat, not kissing her, just feeling her skin against his. Shilo closed her eyes briefly, enjoying the foreign, pleasant sensation.

Graverobber smirked against her skin, parting his lips to press the tip of his tongue against her skin. He tasted her salty sweat and the sweetness of her perfume, and a rush of blood went to his lower abdomen. Shilo's body shuddered beneath his as he opened his mouth wider and ran his tongue down her neck, her pulse quick and strong against his mouth.

Here, he paused and slid his hands beneath the hem of her little white nightdress, pushing the fabric up higher. His fingers hooked beneath the waistband of her gray panties and he pulled them down, easing them over her slightly trembling legs. The whole while she looked down at him apprehensively, watching his movements with curiosity.

Graverobber bit his lip to keep from grinning, his mouth hovering, inches from the treasure trove between her thighs. Shilo arched her back upwards ever-so-slightly, urging him to continue his lusty ministrations.

Almost cautiously, his tongue flicked against her clit. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, a small moan on her lips. He gave a low chuckle and leaned forward to lap at her again.

**…**

Every nerve in Shilo's body felt tensed and ready to spring, and she was loving it.

She had her eyes clamped shut so she would not have to look around at the bedroom that used to be her father's, a place where he'd sometimes let her sleep if she had nightmares, or read her bedtime stories.

**_Well, I guess Daddy's Little Girl really is a fucking monster._**

Graverobber's mouth felt like nothing she'd ever felt before, fire and ice and euphoria and fear. She trembled as he found all the right places, everywhere that made her tick.

"Oh, God…" she hissed, gyrating her hips to the movement of his lips and tongue.

Graverobber groaned softly, his tongue probing deeper inside her. She winced briefly in pain as it brushed against her barrier, and he was careful to avoid it as he explored her inner walls.

**_Still innocent…just a little._**

**…**

Graverobber's pants felt uncomfortably tight, a feeling he missed. Scalpel sluts were good for a dirty quickie on top of a dumpster or in an alley, but nothing they did excited him. They were strung out and unwashed and desperate, three things that made it supremely hard to get him in the mood.

It had been forever since he'd gotten it up without much effort on his part. She was clean, untainted. She didn't look malnourished and leached of all color like she had before, a doll left forever on a shelf. She was something more solid now, a beauty that did not seem somehow unhealthy. Her skin was a more earthly pale now, smooth and soft. Her body had a strength to it she hadn't possessed two years ago. Her _real _hair fanned out on the blankets, curling very gently at the ends.

Shilo's hips were jerking now, her breathing speeding up. He grabbed her hips and pulled them down lower, towards his mouth. She was close. She was so close.

**…**

Shilo literally had to cover her mouth with her hands to keep from crying out too loudly. Her body was hit by a flash-flood of white hot pleasure, every inch of her sizzling and bright. Her body stiffened and then collapsed, buckling in on itself. She turned to the side and curled up in a fetal position, cradling herself as she basked in the heat slowly draining from her body.

A moment later, she realized that she was crying. Not loud sobs, just silent tears skidding down her cheeks.

She put a hand to her face, staring, puzzled, at her tear-dampened fingers.

**_Am I sad?_**

Graverobber pulled himself up so he was lying beside her. He watched her from the corner of his eye as he licked his lips, capturing the remains of her taste. He did not make a move to console her.

For some reason, Shilo was glad. Graverobber was not a "here, let me hold you" kind of guy.

**_And I'm not sad._**

The realization struck her.

**_I'm happy. I'm so happy._**

**_…_**

**A/N: Okay, so it gets a little racy at the end, which struck me as odd as I read, because it started out so innocently. Maybe I'm bipolar. Is that even the right word for it? Anyways, sorry for the late-ish update. I hope you all enjoyed. There will be more romance (probably not too fluffy, though), more adventure, more mystery, and more sex.**

**Oh, who'm I kidding? Of course there will be sex!**

**R&R, please. Reviews are like my fuel. I am a car that runs on reviews.**


End file.
